Chennai: Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn has withdrawn several hundred Chinese engineers and technicians from its iPhone manufacturing units in southern India over the past two months.
However, such decisions are not expected to derail Apple’s production schedules or expansion plans in the country, according to reports.
The move, which began around May this year, has seen more than 300 Chinese personnel fly back, significantly reducing the presence of Chinese staff at Foxconn’s Indian facilities.
It has been reported that despite the abrupt change, the company has quickly replaced the departing engineers with professionals from Taiwan and Vietnam to maintain operations.
Industry insiders reportedly said the production of iPhone 17 remains unaffected and on schedule, as Apple gears up for its next major manufacturing ramp-up in India.
While the sudden exit of skilled Chinese engineers could temporarily impact efficiency, it is unlikely to affect the quality or timeliness of output.
Here, it should be noted that the recall is being seen as part of China’s broader policy shift aimed at curbing the outflow of advanced technology and expertise to India and Southeast Asia.
In response, Foxconn has begun reconfiguring machinery interfaces from Chinese to English and has started sourcing equipment from non-Chinese suppliers to minimise disruptions.
Meanwhile, Apple’s Indian manufacturing ecosystem has demonstrated notable resilience. For example, in FY25, the company produced iPhones worth $22 billion in India, a 60 per cent increase from the previous year.
As reported earlier, Apple aims to manufacture 60 million iPhones in India this year, up from an estimated 35 to 40 million units last fiscal.
Apple continues to pursue its long-term plan to manufacture the bulk of its US-bound iPhones in India by late 2026.
However, the global giant Apple has become one of India’s largest job creators in the tech sector. The company also contributed Rs 1.5 lakh crore in export value in FY25.
